Sunday, 24 July 2011

The People's Palace - Norwich

The healthy option was available but the all day breakfast screamed "choose me!"

The condiments and sauces lived in the basket together in perfect harmony.

Order and pay here.

This decent mug of coffee was included in the price of the all day breakfast, if you prefer tea you can have that instead though.

The soft and fluffy white bread & butter was perfect to wrap around the bacon.

I was expecting 2 sausages but 3 arrived and they were good quality too.

I had gone to bed the night before unsure about whether to go to the 25th VW Bug Jam Festival or not so I decided to wake up on Friday morning and go with my gut feeling. Friday morning came and I had a strong gut feeling to not bother going so decided to start the day with a fry up instead. I thought hard about where in Norwich to go to and realised I was running out of places to try, I tried to visualise different areas of Norwich thinking of somewhere I hadn't been to yet when it dawned on me... The People's Palace!! I pulled up outside where there was plenty of parking and headed through the door...

(After breakfast my gut feeling about attending the Bug Jam did a u turn and we decided to go after all. We must have been about 10 miles away when we found out it was sold out and nobody else would be allowed in, bugger! We decided to keep going anyway and chance it as we were so close and did manage to get in and have a great weekend!)

Upon entering - There is a good number of tables inside and a few placed outside too. The blackboard outside will help you decide before you have made it to the counter which is located towards the rear of the cafe. You will need to order, grab cutlery and choose a table, the food will be bought over when it is ready. I felt quite happy inside the cafe which for some reason reminded me a bit of Roy's Cafe on Coronation Street, I'm not sure why, it just did. 7/10

Service - The man and lady working in the cafe were really friendly, including me in their conversations and seemed to give the place a friendly edge. As I was eating my food a lady came in who had no money and she was told she could have some food and pay them when she got payed again, I'm not suggesting they give credit but it was nice to see how they seemed to really care about their customers and the name of the cafe seemed really fitting. 9/10

Presentation - The sausages and hash brown were a bit dark in places but everything sat together well on the plate. 6/10

The food - I was delighted to discover that the sausages were really nice porky butchers ones, they did appear a bit overcooked but tasted delicious and had probably just caramelised a bit, Matt Davies fashion! The bacon was nice and chunky and really tasty too but could have done with a bit longer in the pan. The fried eggs were spot on and the beans were that perfect stodgy texture that I love. The hash brown was different to any other I had tried and although it appeared slightly well done in places was remarkably good. The fried bread was nice but a bit like when I attempt it at home myself, cooked more in some places than others. It has been a long time since I have eaten such lovely fluffy white bread and butter. 8/10

Value for money - Well worth the asking price of £4.30, especially when you get an extra sausage! 8/10

Veggie option - Yes, there was a veggie breakfast advertised at the counter with veggie sausages for £4.30.

Overall - There were many things about this place that I liked. The fact it seemed to be a real place to meet and socialise for many locals and the owners seemed to really care about their customers. The fact that despite the budget price tag really nice ingredients were used and of course the fact I got an extra sausage! Keep up the good work People's Palace!! 8/10

Still open, and still providing good food and a lovely service. We have been working our way through the menu these past few months and cannot find much to fault about any of the meals. Agree that there is good community spirit here too. Lots of regulars (which we are soon becoming!) and nice banter from the staff and owner.

It's a really great local meeting place. Just had a top notch brekkie there - must make mention of the good quality meats and the option of either tinned or fresh toms as a substitute for the eggs (which I don't eat), and the fluffy bread and butter is really excellent.Oh, and the lashings of beans. At the moment the last Sunday of every month during the summer members of the local community take over the cafe from 11am till 2pm and provide a free meal for anyone who cares to pop in. It tends to be soups, casseroles (cooked the odd veggi cassoulet and spanish sausage stew myself while helping out) and free teas and coffees. Well worth a visit if you ask me, and far from being a lame or destitute (?) row of shops, it's actually pretty vibrant and full of community spirit.

Iv eaten here every week since 2013 never unsatisfied with my meal. Iv struck up abit of a friendship with the French guy and he's really an interesting guy cafe is always inviting one of the best in Norwich